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Mining and construction are industries built on precision, efficiency, and risk management. Yet, despite technological advancements, contract administration remains a major pain point—leading to disputes, financial losses, and inefficiencies.
In Episode 2 of the Hevi AI Podcast, Hevi co-founder Paul Culvenor shares how his mining engineering career and commercial expertise led to the creation of Hevi, an AI-powered solution for contract administration in heavy industry.
Paul’s story starts far from the high-tech world of AI—on a sheep farm in Central Victoria. With a passion for math and science (inspired by his teacher mother), he sought a career outside of farming and discovered mining engineering—a field that offered both intellectual challenge and financial opportunity.
A former semi-pro athlete, Paul played cricket and football at a high level, even captaining AFL legend Dustin Martin in junior football. However, after a knee injury in high school, he pivoted fully to academics, setting his sights on mining.
"Like any good country kid, I googled ‘highest-paying jobs’ and saw mining engineering at the top of the list." — Paul Culvenor
This curiosity led him to the University of New South Wales, where he met co-founder Brad Gyngell—a friendship that would later lead to Hevi.
Paul’s first exposure to mining came during work experience at the Stawell Gold Mine, where he got his first taste of underground operations.
"I remember stepping out of an air-conditioned Land Cruiser into the underground heat—instantly drenched in sweat. That was my ‘welcome to mining’ moment."
He later completed vacation work at:
These experiences shaped his understanding of both technical challenges and business operations in mining.
Paul started his career with Downer Mining, a major contract miner, where he quickly shifted from engineering to business and commercial roles.
"Mining is a business, and if you don’t understand how the dollars work, you don’t understand the full picture."
His ability to bridge the gap between technical operations and financial performance propelled him into commercial management. He managed:
✅ Mining contract tenders worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
✅ Project cost analysis and financial performance tracking.
✅ International mining contracts in Papua New Guinea, Ghana, and South Africa.
His time in West Africa and South Africa gave him firsthand experience in the global mining economy, exposing him to different contract models and risk structures.
Through his commercial experience, Paul saw the same problems repeating across projects:
🔴 Contract administrators weren’t trained in commercial law.
🔴 Important contract deadlines were missed.
🔴 Contractors lost money due to poor documentation.
🔴 Clients and contractors often ended up in costly disputes.
"I was constantly seeing millions of dollars lost because no one was keeping track of contract requirements. It was clear that an AI solution could solve this problem."
Paul and Brad conducted over 30 industry interviews to validate the problem. The result? Hevi was born—an AI-powered contract administration platform designed to:
✅ Provide instant contract insights to project managers.
✅ Flag potential risks, missed claims, and time-sensitive tasks.
✅ Help contractors get paid fairly and on time.
✅ Reduce costly disputes by ensuring compliance from day one.
Traditional contract management is manual, time-consuming, and error-prone. AI changes that by:
🤖 Instantly answering contract questions.
🔍 Scanning emails, reports, and logs for missed claims.
⚡ Providing proactive alerts on contract risks.
📄 Generating accurate correspondence and documentation.
"Mining managers and project engineers aren’t lawyers. AI lets them focus on running the project while Hevi handles the contract admin in the background."
A contractor at an underground gold mine almost missed a $400,000 latent condition claim because no one flagged it in time.
With Hevi’s AI-powered tools, the team:
✅ Identified the claim within 7 days (contractual requirement).
✅ Generated a compliant claim notice instantly.
✅ Provided contract-backed evidence to defend the claim.
Without AI, the contractor would have lost $400K.
Paul believes AI will not replace humans but enhance decision-making across the industry.
"AI won’t replace jobs—it will remove the grunt work so people can focus on what they do best: solving problems and making decisions."
He envisions a future where:
🚀 AI eliminates contract disputes before they escalate.
🔄 Mining operations are fully optimized using real-time AI insights.
📅 Project teams work more efficiently with AI handling administration.
Paul also shared his favorite AI-powered tools:
🎨 Canva AI – Instantly generates images and designs for Hevi.
🎙 AI Voice Assistants – Helping his kids learn about the world.
📊 Data Analysis AI – Automating financial models and contract analysis.
"We’re already living in an AI-powered world—most people just don’t realize it yet."
Mining is complex, high-risk, and fast-moving. AI is now an essential tool for keeping projects on track, ensuring fair payment, and reducing disputes.
Paul and Brad built Hevi to be the AI-powered middleman, ensuring:
✅ Contractors get paid what they deserve.
✅ Clients avoid unnecessary disputes.
✅ Projects stay profitable and compliant.
🚀 Want to see Hevi in action?
📅 Book a demo at https://calendly.com/paulculvenor/30min
🔊 Listen to the full episode on:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0InChGgy2BFoyBSxiqdrAV?si=0uSBZr2xT3CCKGNAURWnFg
YouTube:
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